But there is one mantra Hinkley is ready to push against the external pundits who say the AFL coach of the year and his fast-rising team (14th to fifth this year) are destined for the second-year blues.

"We'll turn up," says Hinkley of a vision he wants to play out next season. "On Monday we'll know that from the players as we see them turn up. And we will make them push harder - they already know that."

Hinkley gave his players a simple message when they broke for their end-of-season holiday in mid-September.

He congratulated them on a season that not only revived the Port Adelaide spirit on and off the field, but rebuilt respect for a team that had lacked relevance for five years.

He encouraged them to enjoy their hard-earned break. And he told them that the first day of pre-season training would be tougher than all they endured 12 months earlier - and he would not tolerate those who lived on the glow of Season 2013.

As the players took the carrot-and-stick message from their coach, Hinkley kept working.

Port Adelaide players after losing to powerhouse Geelong at the MCG in the 2014 finals. Picture: Sarah Reed.Source:News Limited

He re-assessed the player list and football program. He surveyed the draft options and trade market that has brought Brisbane midfielder Jared Polec and Richmond free-agent Matt White to Alberton. He went to Ireland to meet Irish recruit Daniel Flynn's parents. To London for a "leaders in sport" conference. To Dubai to look over the sweat box that will be the Power's training camp at the end of the month.

And when Hinkley finally did break from Alberton - for a two-week family holiday to the US - he still took work with him.

He opened his laptop on the flight to Hawaii not to catch up on any film missed during a demanding AFL season, but to watch the last half of the Power's dramatic semi-final loss to AFL pacesetter Geelong at the MCG.

"I wanted to really drill down on why we lost that last half in our last game," said Hinkley. "That is just a typical person who wants to win and wants to figure out why we lost our last game.

"I wanted to come up with some conclusions in my own mind that are important for us going forward.

"I know I have a group of players who are committed to working hard. They are looking for direction from their coach - and I have to make sure our coaching group gives them that direction."

Port's players have been left in no doubt as to how they are to present themselves for training on Monday. But what of the coach?

"My challenge is to make sure I value the next minute and the next hour so that I am certain I can improve our footy club," he says.

"To do that, our footy club has to understand we have to improve each day and with each session we work through this pre-season and beyond.

"My view doesn't change - we have to keep our focus on the little things and make sure we do value them. And that message of get the little things done right is the best answer to the second-year blues question.

"You have to work hard to succeed in this game. If you are prepared to work hard ... that's the only way I know.

"Right now, the only thing that matters is not last season or our last team meeting, but our first day in pre-season training."

A year ago Hinkley arrived at Alberton insisting he was not the "last man standing" in a job so many saw as poisonous to a coaching career.

He has lived up to the thought of being the "right man standing". But the expectation of another miracle - just to prove Season 2013 was no fluke - does not go away.

Former Western Bulldogs and Richmond coach Terry Wallace already has noted - with a fair chorus around him - that the Power could work harder, play better but with a tougher draw from its top-six finish this season still finish fifth. Hinkley accepts the theory.

"Absolutely, that is exactly right," says Hinkley.

"I don't want to put a limit on what we can achieve next year nor say what it is going to be.

"But I understand, as Terry is saying, that the lift from fifth is really, really tough to do. But the fall can almost be free-fall if you take your eye off what needs to be done.

"After the last game, I said the mountain gets bigger for us. Well, it does. And to make those steps up that bigger mountain, is even harder. That is something we have to be mindful of."

The AFL also has loaded more rocks in the backpacks the Power players will carry up the mountain to an AFL premiership by delivering a tougher draw.

"Every year, our draw will be 18 games you can be sure of - two against the Crows and one against every other AFL club. So we're really talking about four extra games," said a pragmatic Hinkley.

"But I want to play against those best sides as much as we can because they will make you a better side. If you are not ready to play against those top teams - and you get shown up - it means you have to work harder.

"So there is not too much to discuss about the draw. We have to make the most of it."

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